Explanation:
Named for a
forgotten
constellation, the
Quadrantid
Meteor Shower
is an annual event for planet Earth's northern hemisphere skygazers
It usually peaks briefly in the cold, early morning hours of January 4.
The shower's radiant on the sky
lies within the old, astronomically obsolete constellation
Quadrans
Muralis.
That position is situated near the boundaries of the modern
constellations Hercules, Bootes, and Draco.
About 30 Quadrantid meteors can be counted in this
skyscape composed of digital frames recorded in dark and moonless skies
between 2:30am and local dawn.
The shower's radiant is rising just to the right of the Canary
Island of Tenerife's Teide volcano,
and just below the familiar
stars of the Big Dipper on the northern sky.
A likely source of the dust stream that produces
Quadrantid meteors was identified
in 2003
as an asteroid.
Look carefully and you can also spot a small, telltale greenish coma above the
volcanic peak and near the top of the frame.
That's the 2018 Christmas visitor to planet Earth's skies,
Comet Wirtanen.